


i wouldn’t know where to start

by aryasbadbenergy



Series: gendrya week 2019 [3]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Reunion, SAD-ISH ENDING, SORRY YALL, axgweek, but oh well, i overwrote for this one lol its almost 3k words, inn at the crossing, there is some kissing but no smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-07-24 18:22:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20018965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aryasbadbenergy/pseuds/aryasbadbenergy
Summary: arya returns to westeros and when she reunites with nymeria, she’s not led to the Red Keep, but to an inn (day 3: reunion)named for “almost (sweet music)” by hozier!!





	i wouldn’t know where to start

**Author's Note:**

> this one is a lot longer than i intended lol and also i promised myself that i would not continue any of these so like i tried to jam a lot in and also hot pie is also at the inn with gendry and jeyne and willow because i said so ((it’s like half show, half book))

**I've got some color back, she thinks so, too**  
**I laugh like me again, she laughs like you**

**Almost (Sweet Music) ~ Hozier**

Arya wouldn't have survived the Westerosi winter if she hadn't found Nymeria and her pack. She slept against the wolf for warmth, and also needed someone to watch her back along the Kingsroad. The wolves protected their leader, and Nymeria protected Arya. Arya felt like when she came home and had her final wolf dream that led her to Nymeria, a piece of her had been returned.

The years had taken their fair share of Arya, but Arya was back to reclaim herself.

Piece by piece.

And now with Nymeria and her pack at her side, Arya would have even less trouble crossing off the final names on her list.

After the events at the Twins gave Arya back another piece, her next destination is the Red Keep.

* * *

Nymeria shifts around Arya's feet impatiently. Arya tries to take steps forward, but Nymeria keeps stepping too close in front of her and whining. 

"What?" Arya finally asks. "What's wrong?"

Arya listens carefully to hear anything that might mean danger. She can't hear anything over the movements of the pack. She scratches Nymeria behind one of her ears.

"We have to keep moving. The pack will protect us," Arya promises. Nymeria grumbles, but stops trying to deter Arya on her path.

* * *

Nymeria is finally happy again when they stop to rest. Arya builds a small fire and waits while Nymeria and her wolves hunt. She finds a squirrel for herself, and cooks it while she waits for them to return. 

She almost falls asleep against a tree trunk, but she makes herself stand up instead. She will sleep when the wolves come back. It isn't safe to let her guard down when they're not with her.

She wishes it wasn't winter.

She came from Braavos, where all of the plants were alive, even if they were far and few between, to everything being dead.

She misses being a little girl and finding pretty flowers for her father, or happily chatting to Jon about the difference between certain trees, even though he was older and probably knew it anyway, he would still listen to her.

Now none of the trees had leaves, and she didn't know what kind of trees these southern trees were without leaves.

She hears a twig break in the distance. Arya looks around her. It's too gentle to be any of the wolves, and whoever broke the twig, starts to step more carefully. It's a human trying to be quiet. Arya closes her eyes for a moment to listen. She opens her eyes and starts to walk towards the sound. She searches the patch of woods and her eyes scan over a man, his cheeks red from the cold and with every breath creating a mist. She watches him collect broken logs and long sticks, pushing his dark hair out of his face every so often. Arya feels a wet snout press into her palm, and reaches behind her to stroke Nymeria's head, not wanting to peel her eyes away from the man that feels so familiar, but also so dangerous.

Arya freezes when the man looks up at her when the rest of the wolves rustle the dead leaves and brush on the ground to surround Nymeria. Arya bites down on her lip. She's safe with her wolves, but sometimes it takes longer than she'd like to remember that.

Nymeria doesn't growl at him, and Arya looks to Nymeria, who only stares. The wolves start to creep up behind Arya and Nymeria, yet they only groan lowly without Nymeria to follow. Arya looks back up at him and recognizes his blue eyes. She can almost hear Nymeria.

 _Pack_.

Nymeria turns to her wolves and they stop snarling and snapping. Gendry lets out a steady breath. "Arya," he croaks. "Is that you?"

Arya nods. "Gendry."

"You're alive," he sighs. Arya smiles a tiny bit.

"So are you."

Another piece.

* * *

"Last I saw you, you were just an angry little girl. Now you're a woman with a hundred wolves that would rip my throat out if you commanded it."

The corner of Arya's lip quirks into a half smile. Nymeria must have been a sight. Twice his size with blood on her snout, yet she was practically moments away from rolling over to let him rub her belly.

"There isn't a hundred," she says and takes a drink from the mead that he gotten for her. He was collecting wood for a fire while out in the woods, and thought that Arya could use a night inside with a fire, too.

"It feels like a hundred when you don't have the love of them," Gendry says.

Arya shrugs. "I don't have the love of all of them yet. I haven't proved myself to them yet, but Nymeria is their leader, and I have her love."

Gendry grins and shakes his head slightly. "Do you still have those dreams where you growl in your sleep?"

Arya tilts her head a little. "How do I know if I growl in my sleep? I'm sleeping."

Gendry lightly shoves her hand in the middle of the table and Arya laughs. She moves her hand back and her fingertips brush his wrist. He pauses his breathing for just a moment, but before he has a chance to recover, Arya pulls her hand into her lap.

* * *

"Hey, I want to show you something," Gendry stands. "Someone."

Arya follows him further into the inn, and even though she trusts Gendry, she hasn't seen him in years and doesn't know how he's changed.

She has to remember where all of the doors to escape quickly are.

"Hey, look who's here," Gendry calls into the kitchen. A cloud of flour seems like it surrounds the air, but a bright red face turns to look at Arya and Gendry. "Arry?" The man asks. "Is that really you?"

Arya grins. "Hot Pie!"

He steps away from the dough he is kneading and wipes the flour from his hands on his apron. He pulls Arya into a hug despite her protests. Gendry lets out a chuckle when Hot Pie pulls away to reveal covering Arya's dark jerkin in flour. She lets out a low groan, but tries to brush the flour off.

Hot Pie comes to sit with them and he tells her all about his favorite bread recipe, and Arya listens with a smile on her face.

Another piece.

* * *

"You can stay in the inn for the night. Jeyne and Willow said that we don't have any extra rooms, but you can take mine. I'll sleep in the forge," he offers. 

Arya shakes her head. "It's too cold out there. You'll freeze," she insists. She had walked by the forge on their way to the inn, and the cracks in the walls wouldn't keep any heat in. Gendry was a southern boy, and Arya knew that he probably wouldn't do so well out in the cold. "I can go back out with Nymeria and the wolves. She's been keeping me warm."

Gendry shakes his head. "I promised you a warm room with a fire."

"Then you can share the room with me, and we'll be even warmer." She can't believe the words came from her mouth until she's actually said them, and Gendry's cheeks tinge.

"Alright," he agrees and she follows him upstairs.

"We used to sleep next to each other all the time when we were younger," Arya says. Gendry nods.

"Aye."

"So it's not really any different than how we used to sleep," she says.

"It's plenty different," Gendry mumbles under his breath.

Arya pretends like she doesn't hear him, because it is plenty different. They're both very different people. And Gendry is a man now, and Arya is a woman, and she shouldn't share his bed. But it's cold, and she will.

* * *

Arya shifts onto her other side in the bed. She was sleeping facing away from him, but she preferred to sleep on her right side. Gendry's breath is steady, and he snores just a little, which makes Arya smile. He has a full beard now, not like the patchy hair he had when they were children. And his hair is a little shorter, but still long enough that it falls into his eyes. She wants to reach out and brush it off his forehead, but that would be strange to do. It felt even stranger for her to want to do that. 

She turns back onto her left side and tries to fall asleep.

* * *

When she rises the next morning, Gendry is already dressed and lacing up his shoes. He isn't a silent person, and Arya usually wakes up from a little noise. 

She feels safe with Gendry, which is good, but it also worries her. She needs to keep her guard up.

"Morning," he says.

Arya sits up, but the morning sun reminds her how thin her undershirt is in light and she pulls his blanket up to her chin. "Morning."

"I'm going to be in the forge today. Please don't leave without saying goodbye," he asks. "Again."

Arya nods. "I won't," she promises.

* * *

Arya waits until he leaves the room to get out of the bed. She pulls her trousers on and her jerkin and laces all of her clothes quickly. She needs to leave today. She's lost a lot of morning time to travel already, and she was worried that the wolves might wreak havoc on the small town if she stayed in one place for too long.

Arya shuts the door to Gendry's room behind her and starts to walk down the stairs. She stops by the kitchen to say her goodbye to Hot Pie, who gives her another flour-covering hug, and makes her promise to come back and visit again. Arya wants her promise to be true.

She makes her way to the forge, and opens the door as quietly as she can. Gendry doesn't look up from the steel he's focused on, so she sits on a small bench by the door and watches him finish the breastplate. His arms are even bigger than they used to be, and while he's still tall, Arya's head reaches his shoulders now. Sweat drips onto his forehead and he sets his hammer down to wipe his face off. He holds the breastplate up to inspect it, and deems in complete because he pushes it aside and reaches for another breastplate.

Arya almost interrupts him to say goodbye, but he seems to be in a rhythm. Arya's stomach grumbles, and she figures there's no reason to leave before she eats breakfast, so she slips out of the forge and walks back to the inn. She eats warm bread, but it's too early for a glass of mead, so she drinks water from her skin.

She's been traveling for at least an entire moon now, and it feels nice to rest for a while. She tries to talk herself out of staying any longer, but she just wants to rest by the fire, and counts out some coin to give to the Lady of the inn later.

Cersei Lannister and The Red Keep will still be there if she arrives a day later than planned.

Gendry comes in for something to eat, and smiles when he still sees Arya. He sits down by her to eat his soup.

"Honestly, I thought that you would have left already."

"I promised that I'd say goodbye, didn't I?"

Gendry shrugs his shoulders a little. "Aye, you promised it. That doesn't mean you were actually going to do it."

Arya pushes his shoulder with hers, and he doesn't move away.

* * *

He grins when Arya asks to stay another night. She offers him some of the stolen coin for letting her stay in his bed, but Gendry shakes his head. 

He tells her about Willow and Jeyne, the ladies of the inn, and a little about the Brotherhood. She doesn't care so much for the Brotherhood, and Gendry seems to pick up on it because he doesn't tell her much.

He asks her where she was for the past few years.

"I went to Braavos for a little while. Nobody was after me there." _For a time._

"I heard it's warm there."

Arya smiles. "It is."

"So are you headed North?"

Arya bites on her lip. She's going to the Red Keep. But she can't tell Gendry that.

"Your brother's King now."

Arya coughs on her mead. "My brother?"

"Jon. He took the North back from the Boltons. It's his now."

Arya can't help the small grin she has. Jon. Her brother.

She isn't going to the Red Keep. It would only give her back a piece.

She's going home to Jon, and she'll feel whole again.

* * *

Arya opens her eyes, finally giving up on her attempt to sleep. She lets out a small sigh and looks at Gendry, who isn't sleeping either. He blushes when she catches him staring at her, but he doesn't look away. 

Arya stares back for a moment.

"Do you love Jeyne?" Arya finally asks. The stupid idea has been gnawing at her for well over an appropriate amount of time now. She shouldn't be jealous either. She hasn't seen Gendry in years. She can't expect him to never fall in love with someone. And Jeyne is his age, too. They've known each other for years, and depend on each other. It would make sense. Hot Pie had mentioned it earlier when Arya went to see him again, but he didn't really know anything. He promised that it was just a thought. Arya didn’t want to seem jealous, so she didn’t try to worm any more information about it from Hot Pie. 

It was stupid anyway. Arya is leaving Gendry again, and he can ring Jeyne’s bells if he wants. It didn’t matter when they were children if he wanted to ring Bella’s bells, and it definitely doesn’t matter now. 

Gendry lets out a cough. "Jeyne?" He asks. Arya nods. "No. I'm not in love with Jeyne," he denies.

"Willow, then?"

Gendry shakes his head. "No. I'm not in love with either of them. They're like sisters to me."

"Alright."

"Why?" Arya bites on her lip. "Arya?"

She shrugs a little. "I was just curious."

"Alright." Arya turns back onto her left side. Gendry reaches out to her, and sets a hand on her shoulder. "I'm not in love with either of them because I think I love someone else. Even when I was younger, I loved her. She came back after a few years though, and she's different now. And she's got a ton of wolves who could rip my throat out if I told her I loved her and she didn't like it."

Arya turns back around. "You love me?"

He swallows. Shrugs. "Maybe."

"Maybe? You may be in love with me, but you don't know?"

"I don't know the new Arya just yet."

Arya stares at him. Her glance from his eyes to his lips doesn't go unnoticed by him, and he sets his hand on her neck. She sighs at the contact, and Gendry leans forward. He cups her face and tilts her chin up. He gives her a soft kiss and pulls away. She smiles a little and leans up to kiss him again.

Arya roams her fingers over his chest and shoulders. He's warm under her touch and Arya's breath catches in her throat when he reaches out for the hem of her shirt. He doesn't pull it up, but he rubs the fabric between his fingers and cranes his neck to try to kiss her again. He drops the fabric and wraps his arm around her waist to pull her closer. He squirms when she brushes the dip in his waist with the palm of her hand and she laughs. “Is it sensitive?”

He smiles and just kisses her again. She pushes his shoulders down to press him onto his back and she swallows thickly.

"Arya," Gendry sighs.

She plants her palms beside his head and she lifts her leg to put it on the other side of him. Gendry turns his head and presses a kiss to her wrist. She smiles while Gendry reaches for the back of her leg, and pulls Arya into his lap. She pulls at the hem of her shirt to untuck the fabric from between their bodies and leans forward to press another kiss to his mouth. Her hands tangle themselves in Gendry's mop of dark hair before she trails her lips across his neck. She moves her lips to his stubbly chin and eventually latches back onto his mouth. He inches his fingers underneath the hem and Arya lets out a sharp breath. She sits up and Gendry pulls his hands away, afraid that he’s done something wrong, most like.

"I'm going North," she says. "And you're welcome to join me."

Gendry gives Arya a small smile, but his eyes are sad. "This is my home, now. Jeyne and Willow need me, Arya. And the children."

She nods. "I understand."

She wants to be with Gendry, but he has a life without her in it again, and it isn't fair for her to expect him to leave it behind.

But it doesn't matter if he belongs at the inn and she belongs in the North. They are together now, and Arya doesn't want to waste that time. She leans down to kiss him again.


End file.
